Preface

Advances in biotechnology within the last decade have resulted in the development of many powerful techniques that provide new information about food, animals and plants enhancing the health and well-being of people, environment and economy. The present day human society is aware of the benefits that can be achieved from the development of new and advanced biotechnological approaches. With unprecedented technological advancements in recent times, research in biotechnology has turned extremely sophisticated and expensive. New biotechnology tools are also offering valuable elements for the efficient utilization of a wide variety of renewable and non-renewable resources in industrialized societies.

Therefore, the motivation to edit a comprehensive volume on advances in biotechnology arose from a growing awareness of the recent advances in cell biology, molecular genetics, biochemistry and bioengineering that all have boosted the growth of biotechnology. This volume covers a wide range of applications of biotechnology. These include discussions on its impact on gene isolation and DNA delivery techniques, on markers and physical mapping, on the improvement of animal production and on bioinformatics to system biology. The newly emergent and exciting field of nano-biotechnology is reviewed as is the development of reliable, eco-friendly process for the synthesis of nano scale materials for DNA and drug delivery in both plant and animal systems. In producing this first volume of the Advances in Biotechnology series we have aimed to reflect the rapid development in the field. Probably the most significant has been the development of the nano biotechnology. This area has gained a tremendous impact on varied fields such as energy, chemical, medicine, information technology, electronics, environment application, security, space, drug and gene delivery. There are several other chapters dealing with the various dimensions of gene isolation and DNA delivery, including the virus inducing gene silencing in wheat. There are also chapters that describe biotechnology perspective and acceptance level of GMOs worldwide- a consumer and producer perspective. There are few repetitions in some related chapters as is common in any multi-authored production. However, we decided to retain them to be as close as possible to the author's view and perspectives. In the process we learnt a lot from our teachers, friends; and colleagues and well wishers; any one who lend their hands to make this volume a reality.

This volume is the culmination of the efforts of several researchers, scientists, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows across the world and are all well known and respeceted in different frontiers of biotechnology research. We sincerely believe that the book will prove to be a useful contribution not only to science, but also to the general public interest. We express our appreciation to all of the contributing authors and to all of the members of the international reviewer panel that helped us tremendously with their contributions, time, critical thoughts, and suggestions to put together this peer-reviewed edited volume. The editors are also thankful to Bentham Publisher and their team members for the opportunity to publish this volume. Lastly we thank our family members for their love, support, encouragement and patience during the entire period of this work.